coryb27

Yes, but quite honestly CHIRP is better suited for programming.

sounds like a fun time.

Using those basic line of sight calculations is rather useless for coloroado as the terrain comes into play. I actually was looking at a site that though it was the highest spot for miles, it was in a valley an hour or so south of the OP and would cover the county entirely, but only 10 miles west, 10 miles east, and 15 north due to mountains and the gorge the Arkansas River cut its way through.
 
The basic calculations work well in this kind of terrain. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160320/448d567f980191559ddc4e964f70b5ed.jpg
That grain elevator is 8 miles away and roughly 200 feet tall.
 
 
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I'm going to be using these links for sure! Thank you for all the valuable information!

Hello just purchased a Baofeng UV-5R+ with extra battery and Nagoya NA-701 SMA-F144/430Mhhz dual band antenna

Good grief! At the prices being charged at Amazon you'd think these were gold plated. Honestly you can find nice Kenwood TK-840 or
TK-880 mobiles for around $50 these days, and even some decent HT's at reasonable prices. These are fully programmable and could be set up for both simplex and repeater operation.

Might I make this suggestion:
 
 Not sure what your budget is, however find yourself a really good handheld that you like, get a mobile antenna for you car. < make sure your portable can accept an external antenna>
 
By doing that, you use it as handheld as use it as both, a portable, and a car radio, and when you get in to the car with the outside Car Antenna, connect it, this will give you little more range.
 
Of course, it depend on what kind of radio you get as to the cost there, some range from 1 to 5 watts, and can be programed with repeater splits, you can also find some 2 to 4 DB gain antenna for around $25 to $50.
 
I set up both my wife's and my vehicle for $180.00 each. When we are in out cars we have the out side antenna, when we are away from the car we are using the antenna that came with the radio.
 
The main thing to consider is a most bubble pack don't allow you connect a external antenna, and if do attach an external antenna you will not be able to use FRS channels legally.
 
Hope this suggest helps.

If the repeater is wide band, you will want to work it with wideband, likewise you will get the best performance from your radios in wideband. GMRS is not required to use narrow, and range is diminished with it as well. 

Let us know when you get it on the air, dont forget the range reports! I get down to you area a few times a year for work, once you get the tones let me know and i will holler next time i am in range!

Yay! The 1/2" heliax was delivered today, along with a new roof tripod and 2x5" heavy steel masts sections.
http://puu.sh/nzR1U.jpg

I like to know who is using it but i dont keep records and believe in the open repeater concept. Once I changed from permission only to community access repeaters I noticed the usage number starting to climb. I built it so others could use it, the equipment does no good to anybody sitting idle for 90% of the time. My hope is to generate some local interest in the hobby by offering solid systems with good coverage areas without the hassle of having to get permission.

Just got 180' of 7/8  and 100' of 1/2 in  yesterday. 7/8 for my business system and the 1/2 is going to another GMRS repeater.
 

Just got 180' of 7/8  and 100' of 1/2 in  yesterday. 7/8 for my business system and the 1/2 is going to another GMRS repeater.
 

Software license alone is $505
 
Bridge & Software license is $699

This topic is an interesting one for the reason I operate multiple GMRS and Part 90 VHF and UHF repeaters for our regional SAR Teams. Sometimes something as this can also be a learning tool and educational. Many SAR teams have no clue about radios and buy what a "friend" tells them and its normally a CCR. On my team we have multiple members who have a GMRS license and one of my repeaters is hosted by the team. Team members with the license use this to chat when they want. The repeater is also at a large recreational area and is open to the public. Every radio our team owns has the channel in case of a civilian calling for an emergency. Being we operate on multiple formats in our area the repeater is quiet most of the time. I have found internally the repeater has actually been a good way to get folks to buy the GMRS license as a way to talk to the other members who use it. 
 
Lastly as others have said what the sense of having a repeater up with all the costs of a proper install at a tower site just to sit idle. I have invested thousands of dollars on the gear and hope it gets used. If i want privacy we I go to one of my P25 repeaters and run secure if its really important. 

I decided long ago to list the repeater as open, its the users responsibility to ID and I turned off my auto ID. I figure what good is a repeater if it sits idle all the time, I built it to cover a huge recreational area and I want people to use it. Unless I get complaints I wont change a thing. I have listened to people tell me about repeaters that sat Idle 95% of the time until they failed, what a waste of money. Between the Helix, Antenna, Climber and repeater gear i have $4500 bucks into it, I rather see it burn up knowing it served people well then die idle in the shack.

Although I still don't have it on the air yet Cory, there would be no point to me putting it up at all unless I allow any licensed GMRS user to use it...
 
I may be old (67) but I'm not yet to the point of talking to myself, and even if I were I'd still not need a repeater to do that!

I decided long ago to list the repeater as open, its the users responsibility to ID and I turned off my auto ID. I figure what good is a repeater if it sits idle all the time, I built it to cover a huge recreational area and I want people to use it. Unless I get complaints I wont change a thing. I have listened to people tell me about repeaters that sat Idle 95% of the time until they failed, what a waste of money. Between the Helix, Antenna, Climber and repeater gear i have $4500 bucks into it, I rather see it burn up knowing it served people well then die idle in the shack.

Its up and running, tested range and found it to be way better then expected. Portable's worked 15+ miles and mobiles 30+ with full quieting.
 
If your in the area use and enjoy!
 
Corey
 



 

 

Its up and running, tested range and found it to be way better then expected. Portable's worked 15+ miles and mobiles 30+ with full quieting.
 
If your in the area use and enjoy!
 
Corey
 



 

 

.
 
 
 
Good points but let me add why I asked that question. As a longtime GMRS user (I have been reading the forum and following the website for well over a year) I was surprised that there wasn't a mechanism on mygmrs.com to allow searching for other local members. There isn't a profile entry in our accounts to voluntarily add our location that I am aware of or is searchable. I live in an area that has very few known repeaters but there are a lot of licensees. I thought mygmrs.com would be a good way to find other active users in my area and network with them.
 
Once I put up my own repeater and listed it here several other local repeater owners (not listed on mygmrs.com) contacted me to let me know about their systems. I also received over a dozen contacts from users as well. As a consequence I started some side conversations with the owners regarding getting more users on our repeaters and possibly starting a network. All our repeaters are open, community-based systems and do not charge fees. [side note: I did suggest they list their repeaters here and anticipate that they will.]
 
It may be different for other members but personally, being able to have a place to congregate with other local users/repeater owners has significant value. Things like sharing spare equipment, loaning test equipment, tower locations, etc. are all things that are useful at a local level. I understand that many GMRS repeaters are closed systems and are not looking for users but here in my area that appears to be the opposite.
 
As mygmrs.com currently seems to be the preeminent online location for GMRS I thought it might be reasonable to add the local/regional component to it. I know in my case it would have stimulated postings from me a year ago when I was looking for local GMRS information. I participate in two forums that create regional boards based on requests for them hence the reason I made my request here. Since there are close to 20 other GMRS users/repeater owners in my area that I just met who are looking to have these conversations, I looked first at mygmrs.com as the place to do it. It may be possible that others are looking for the same feature now or in the future and this would stimulate more postings to this forum as a result.
 
- Rob 
 
 

Well, I finically finished moving this weekend…storage shed is all cleaned out. Had enough room for my DB-404 and Sinclair fiberglass antenna…had to get creative with the 420 for the move. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160127/af1061ff39af000cdfe10fe4521a551f.jpg
 
 
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I installed a DB404-B in my attic due to living in a condo. The cable run was about 40' I used 1/2 helix run in the wall to a custom wall plate terminated with N connectors. I did the same with my VHF and scanner. In the beginning I was worried about performance but it proved to be an awesome decision. I can work repeaters 50 plus miles away without issue.
 

 

I installed a DB404-B in my attic due to living in a condo. The cable run was about 40' I used 1/2 helix run in the wall to a custom wall plate terminated with N connectors. I did the same with my VHF and scanner. In the beginning I was worried about performance but it proved to be an awesome decision. I can work repeaters 50 plus miles away without issue.
 

 

Well, your county maybe. That is one fine and professionally built repeater Cory is building!